Abstract
The ultimate target of molecular electronics is to combine different types of functional molecules into integrated circuits, preferably through an autonomous self-assembly process. Charge transport through self-assembled monolayers has been investigated previously, but problems remain with reliability, stability and yield, preventing further progress in the integration of discrete molecular junctions. Here we present a technology to simultaneously fabricate over 20,000 molecular junctions—each consisting of a gold bottom electrode, a self-assembled alkanethiol monolayer, a conducting polymer layer and a gold top electrode—on a single 150-mm wafer. Their integration is demonstrated in strings where up to 200 junctions are connected in series with a yield of unity. The statistical analysis on these molecular junctions, for which the processing parameters were varied and the influence on the junction resistance was measured, allows for the tentative interpretation that the perpendicular electrical transport through these monolayer junctions is factorized.
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Acknowledgements
We acknowledge financial support from the EU projects NAIMO (NMP4-CT-2004-500355). The work of E.C.P.S. forms part of the research program of the Dutch Polymer Institute (DPI) project no. 516. The work of H.B.A. and A.J.K. was financially supported by the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials and NanoNed, a national nanotechnology program coordinated by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. The work in Mons is partly supported by the Interuniversity Attraction Pole IAP 6/27 Program of the Belgian Federal Government ‘Functional supramolecular systems (FS2).’ J.C. is a research fellow of FNRS. The work of S.P. and G.L. is supported by Fondazione Cariplo—Project TOLEDO. We acknowledge J.H.M. Snijders, C. van der Marel and H. Nulens for the XPS and AFM measurements, R.G.R. Weemaes for the FIB-TEM analysis, R. Schroeders for technical assistance, and N. Willard for fruitful discussions.
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Van Hal, P., Smits, E., Geuns, T. et al. Upscaling, integration and electrical characterization of molecular junctions. Nature Nanotech 3, 749–754 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2008.305
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2008.305
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